On a mission. (Liaison Cafe. North Walsham)

Liaison Cafe,

North Walsham,

Now Closed Down

Today was my first cafe rating commission as I had been asked to recommend a cafe in the North Walsham area. Unfortunately this is a part of Norfolk that I have not yet managed to get much coverage of so I would need to find and rate somewhere new. I was meeting Andrew (who is notoriously hard to please) at his home in Aylsham and as that is not too far from North Walsham I asked him to research the cafe we should go to. On arrival he told me he had done thorough research and had picked Liaison cafe as it had had a good review for fried eggs. I suspected his thorough research had not been very thorough as I was rather hoping for a cafe that had had a good review for relevant things like hot chocolate and home-made cake. He explained his logic was that if you can fry an egg you can bake a cake, which seemed fair enough, so we set off on our mission.

Roads started to flood as we went on our North Walsham cafe recommendation mission.

Just as we set off it started to rain, and then sleet and then snow and then the roads started to flood and then we were soon freezing. Andrew wasn't sure if he was enjoying himself and claimed he could no longer feel his fingers. To keep him motivated I reminded him that nobody ever said cafe cycle rating was going to be easy and that we were on a mission. Surprisingly it didn't seem to do the trick so I agreed to take a short cut to North Walsham instead. To make matters worse just as we got to North Walsham I got a puncture but decided to ride on my deflating tyre and mend it after we had warmed up at Liaison cafe.

Bikes, mine with puncture, locked up with Alamio outside Liaison Cafe in North Walsham.

On entering I went straight to the counter to look at the cakes and award the effective cake selection rating. There was a good selection of slices and scones but no proper big cakes so I could only award a middling rating. I went for bread pudding slice and Andrew Bakewell tart slice.

While I was reviewing cakes, Andrew was dealing with drinks and receiving the devastating news that the coffee machine was being repaired. Although this didn't impact on my hot chocolate he had to make do with a mug of tea, not good news for someone who is notoriously hard to please.

Broken coffee machine part way through being repaired.

Although there is no outside seating area at Liaison cafe there is a choice of a formal or comfy indoor seating area. We went for comfy sofas although it was a bit dark. As well as sofas this area also had a useful pole facility which I imagine was there to attract the passing fireman or pole dancer trade in order to make them feel more at home. There didn't appear to be any fireman or pole dancers in today so we sat in the sofas by the pole and got on with rating our cakes and drinks.

Comfy seating area with useful pole facility.

The hot chocolate was a little too sweet but the bread pudding slice was very nice. I quizzed Andrew for a comment on his tea and he described it as 'a standard mug of tea' and said his Bakewell tart slice was quite nice. However he was a bit distracted as he had discovered that his very expensive cycle waterproof was not as waterproof as he thought. Pointing out that my cheap waterproof had kept me dry didn't seem to help. I felt a rant may have been on the way so I suggested he vent his anger with Goretex rather than me and changed the subject.

Cakes and drinks just before rating ,
although 'notoriously hard to please' Andrew was distract
by the lack of water protection from his expensive cycle waterproof coat.

Although Liaisons cafe had a reasonable rating I don't yet think we have found a cafe or tearoom in the North Walsham area worthy of a recommendation so I feel our mission isn't yet complete.

Mending puncture outside Liaisons Cafe whilst being kept dry by my waterproof cycle jacket

After leaving  Liaisons cafe I mended my puncture but because of a lack of inner tubes, Andrews porous jacket and the grey skies we took the direct route back.

I am adding a new feature by showing the cafes ratings at end of each post. The full cafe ratings table of all cafes can be found at the end of the blog.

Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Effective Cake Selection	Cake Quality	Ambiance  and Atmosphere	Café Rating
5.5	6	6	7	5.5	6.00